Experimental Studies From The Biological Institute Of The
Goetheanum With Three Multi-Coloured and Twenty Single Coloured
Plates.
Orient-Occident Verlag, Stuttgart-Den Haag-London, 1928

FOREWORD

In the essay Workings of the Stars in Earthly Substances,
published a few months ago, the attempt was made to show by means
of scientific experiments that the stars in the heavens play a
very real part in happenings on Earth. The experiments were
carried out with the metallic salts of silver, iron and lead. The
workings of these metals, in normal conditions, both by day and by
night, in full daylight and also in a dark chamber, were
illustrated by a series of pictures. We were then able to show
that fundamental changes occur at the time of a conjunction of
Saturn and Sun. Indeed the activity of salts of lead appears to be
wholly suspended at the time of the conjunction.

In this present essay, we shall show, again by means of pictures
painted by the Cosmos itself, how the total eclipse of the Sun on
June 29th, 1927, was mirrored in the metallic salts of gold,
silver and tin.

Gold, the physical representative on Earth of the Sun, and silver,
the physical representative on Earth of the Moon, are obviously
the sub-stances most suited to present in picture form, the
darkening of the Sun by the Moon.

Once again we must emphasize that his essay represents merely a
tiny fragment of extensive work. Unbroken study of many years has
enabled us to create a basis which justifies us now in placing the
results of our research before the world. May the minds and hearts
of men be open in order that the Sun may shine into them when the
physical Sun is darkened.

L. Kolisko
Stuttgart, September 29th, 1927

Before we can speak of the reflection of the solar eclipse in
earthly substances, it is necessary to say something about the
particular substances that were used as a basis for the
experiments.

EXPERIMENTS WITH GOLD

It is curiously interesting to experiment with gold. The first
experiments we carried out with gold some years ago, consisted in
dissolving it in aqua regia (nitric acid / hydrochloric acid
mixture) and evaporating the superfluous acid so that we finally
had gold in solution as chloride of gold. This solution of
chloride of gold was rhythmically diluted — that is to say, raised
to a higher potency — and then the different potencies were
sprinkled on grains of wheat. For a fortnight, the wheat
germinated and grew under the in-working forces of the gold
potencies and the result of the measurements was a wonderfully
harmonious curve. To begin with, then, we investigated the effect
of gold on the growth of plants. Simultaneously, we tried to
produce evidence of the effect of very highly diluted substances
by means of the capillary-analytical method, inserting strips of
filter paper in small glass vessels each containing one of the
different potencies. Through the course of the year we
investigated in this way different plant extracts and metallic
salt solutions of silver, quicksilver, copper, gold, iron, tin,
lead, antimony and so forth.

Apart from the study of the effect of the potency, we observed the
pictures produced by gold, silver, copper, iron and how the
pictures changed in the course of a month, a year and, finally, in
the course of several years. The results of these investigations
will have to be dealt with in greater detail in an essay devoted
entirely to the subject of gold.

For the sake of explaining the experiments described in this
present book, however, we add these few very brief remarks about
gold.

We use chloride of gold (aurum chlor. cryst. fuscum) as applied by
E. Merck of Darmstadt for industrial purposes, dissolving 1 gramme
in 100 ccm. of distilled water. Gold dissolves very rapidly and
the water becomes at once a golden-yellow colour. We pour 10 ccm.
of this solution into a glass vessel and insert a strip of filter
paper.

In the case of the pictures of silver we find that the wealth of
forms is so great that it is impossible to present one picture
only of silver. Hundreds of pictures would have to be shown before
any conception can be gained of the wealth of the forms. In the
case of gold, the colours are so rich that many pictures must be
observed before we can realise the nature and character of the
metal. The colours that make their appearance vary between pure
yellow and dark violet. We find every shade of yellow up to brown,
also shades of rosy pink, purple, blue, light to dark violet.
Plate I is a coloured picture of gold in so far as the colour can
be reproduced.* It was taken on December 25th 1926, in a dark
chamber, and proves that light has no direct influence upon the
manifestation of the colours.

Plate I -- Gold Chloride, 25.12.26

When we have gold in a state of solution, the Sun — according to
the indications given by Rudolf Steiner — is working in it. The
time of a solar eclipse is therefore highly favourable for
observing the changes appearing in gold.

For Stuttgart, the time of the eclipse was given as 5.19 a. m.,
June 29th. I decided, therefore, to insert filter paper in a
solution of gold on June 29th at 5.19 a. m. and to allow the
picture to form under the influence of the solar eclipse. The
usual picture of a solution of gold was familiar to us as the
result of many experiments. In order, however, to discover the
appearance presented by gold immediately before the solar eclipse,
it was necessary to carry out experiments with chloride of gold
several days before, at 5. 19 a. m. — that is to say, at the same
moment when the eclipse would occur on June 29th. On account of
the high cost of reproduction it has unfortunately been impossible
to print in colour all the pictures of gold. Plate II shows the
gold on June 27th and 28th.Plate II, top -- Gold Chloride, 27.06.27,
05.19h

Plate II, bottom -- Gold Chloride,
28.06.27, 05.19h

On June 27th we have a normal picture of gold, whereas on June
28th it has become somewhat cloudy. Various specks and strokes
have made their appearance and the picture looks almost dirty.Plate III -- shows the gold on June 29th, at sunrise and at
5.19 a.m., the time of the solar eclipse.Plate III, top -- Gold Chloride, 29.06.27,
sunrise

Plate IV shows the gold on June 29th at 7 a. m., and again at 5.
19 p. m., after the eclipse. The picture obtained at the time of
the eclipse manifests the above-mentioned phenomenon still more
strongly. A large number of specks have appeared. The colours are
not so luminous as on other occasions; their tones are mostly
brownish-red dirty violet. It is altogether an unpleasing picture.

On June 29th at 5. 19 p. m. the picture of the gold has become
quite clean again; the colours are more luminous but they have not
yet assumed their natural, inherent beauty and purity.

Plate IV, top -- Gold Chloride, 29.06.27,
07.00h

Plate IV, bottom -- Gold Chloride, 29.06.27,
17.19h

EXPERIMENTS WITH SILVER

We have chosen, from a continuous series, pictures of silver taken
two days before the eclipse, on the actual day of the eclipse and
the two following days. in the first publication — Workings of the
Stars in Earthly Substances — we included a picture of silver,
referring to an essay dealing entirely with silver which will
shortly be published. The pictures in this present work are
obtained in the following way: Between 8 a.m. and 9. a.m. a
solution of nitrate of silver (1 gramme in 100 can. of distilled
water) is poured into a glass vessel into which the filter paper
is dipped. The silver rises, attaining its maximum height after
two or three hours and is coloured by the light and air. According
to whether the Sun shines more or less strongly, the tones of the
colour vary from light to dark brown. No matter how much silver is
contained in the vessel, when the maximum height is attained, the
surplus silver remains stationary in the vessel and the filter
paper is worked upon simply by the light and the air. Towards
evening, when the Sun is setting, the fluid begins to rise still
higher and oversteps the boundary set up during the day. The
extent to which the fluid’ rises by night is dependent upon the
general weather conditions and the resulting temperature and
moisture of the air. When the air is moist and the night cold, the
fluid rises higher than when the air is dry and the temperature
warm. At night, therefore, there is a second ascent of the fluid
in the filter paper and when the second boundary has been reached,
a second picture is formed — the night picture.

Plate V is a picture taken by day and Plate VI shows the night
picture placed with it. These pictures cannot be obtained in the
laboratory but only in the open air, under a glass bell or glass
frame.

Plate V -- Silver Nitrate, picture taken by day

Plate VI -- Silver Nitrate, picture taken by
day and night

We now pass to the pictures taken before and after the solar
eclipse:

Plate VII -- Silver on June 27th, day and
night.

Plate VIII -- Silver on June 28th, day and
night.

Plate IX -- Picture taken on June 29th, the day
of the eclipse. Plate X June 30th, day and night.

Plate XI -- July 1st, day and night.

Plate VII -- Silver Nitrate, 27.06.27, day and
night

Plate VIII -- Silver Nitrate, 28.06.27, day and
night

Plate IX -- Silver Nitrate, 29.06.27, day of
the eclipse, day and night

Plate X -- Silver Nitrate, 30.06.27, day
and night

Plate XI -- Silver Nitrate, 01.07.27, day and
night

The facts speak for themselves and there is no need to waste many
words about them. On June 29th, the silver is not at all the same
as at other times in the month of June. The pictures must be
allowed to tell their own story and we must give ourselves up
simply to the effect they produce. Each single picture portrays a
definite force that is regulating the substance and is working in
accordance with definite law in the inner structure of the
picture. On June 29th, one gets the impression that something has
fallen into disorder. Chaos is reigning; different forces are
struggling together for the mastery. It seems to me that this
arises as an entirely objective impression if, without any
preconceptions whatever, one allows the pictures to work upon one.
The impression of course is all the stronger when one has been
able to observe the pictures not only on the two days immediately
preceding and following the solar eclipse but a long series,
taken, say, on the thirty days before and the thirty days
following the eclipse. The impression made by this curious silver
formation on June 29th is then much stronger. These sixty pictures
of silver have all been reproduced and we should at any time be
able to publish them. Some at any rate will certainly be able to
be brought out.

EXPERIMENTS WITH GOLD AND
SILVER

We have now considered gold by itself and silver by itself, in
normal conditions and at the time of the solar eclipse. The
eclipse comes about because the Moon passes between the Earth and
the Sun. In the Cosmos, therefore, there is a very special
relation and interworking between Sun and Moon. This interworking
of the two heavenly bodies is also expressed when the two earthly
substances representing Sun and Moon are combined. We must
therefore unite chloride of gold and nitrate of silver at the time
of the eclipse. Here again it would need a separate essay to speak
in detail of the combined working of silver and gold but once more
we must unfortunately limit ourselves to a minimum. Most wonderful
forms arise when gold and silver unite — the form-building force
of silver, of the Moon, working in the wealth of colour inherent
in gold!

Plate XII is the coloured reproduction of a picture of silver and
gold together, taken on March 21st, 1927, at the beginning of
Spring. The same concentration of both silver and gold — 1 gramme
in 100 ccm. —is used and the solutions are mixed in equal
quantities.

Plate XII -- Gold Chloride & Silver
Nitrate, 21 March 1927

Next we pass to the solar eclipse and see how it is reflected in
the interworking of silver and gold.

Plate XIII -- shows silver and gold on June
28th at 5.19 a. m. and on June 29th at 5.19 a. m. (beginning of
the eclipse).

It is really awe-inspiring to see from a study of Plate XIII how
utterly differently silver and gold work on the Earth when up in
the heavens the Moon is covering the Sun! The picture has no
particular form or colour. The colours are washed out, a greyish
violet. The experiment was repeated many times on June 29th. The
relation of gold and silver was practically normal at 2.30 p.m. on
this day.

Intimate knowledge of the working of these two substances enables
us to say that the picture which arose at this hour still
indicates a slight preponderance of silver.

As a rule, the reaction of silver and gold brings about an
immediate sediment golden-yellow in colour. At 5.19 a.m. on June
29th this sediment was not golden-yellow but brown, soon darkening
to black. The silver was working more strongly than the gold and
to a certain extent this phenomenon was still apparent at 2.30
p.m.

At 5.19 p. m. the reaction became quite normal and the picture had
assumed its ordinary appearance. Plate XIV is a picture of silver
and gold’ taken on June 29th at 7.16 a. m. towards the end of the
eclipse. We have also added the picture taken on the same day at
5.19 p.m.

Plate XIV, top -- Gold Chloride & Silver
Nitrate, 29.06.27, 07.00h

Plate XIV, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Silver
Nitrate, 29.06.27, 17.19h

EXPERIMENTS WITH GOLD AND
TIN

We were of course also interested to study the behaviour of gold
in relation to other metallic salts during the time of the
eclipse. As well as the experiments with silver, gold and the two
together, we carried out a long series of others, with gold and
lead, gold and tin, gold and iron, gold and copper, gold and
mercury, etc. The relation of the gold to lead was the least
disturbed, the longest and most intense disturbance being manifest
in its relation to tin. At some future time more will be said
about this experiment.

When solutions of gold and tin are united, they give rise to a
highly interesting combination, well-known to chemists. This
combination produces the so-called ‘gold-purple of Cassius’ but —
I merely mention this in passing — not always. There are times
when the most wonderful gold purple appears, immediately solutions
of tin and gold are poured together and again there are times when
absolutely nothing is to be seen. The golden-yellow changes into a
light green but there is no purple. Now we observed that during
the month of June, 1927, there was no purple reaction from gold
and tin. The colour of the sediment was only light green and after
some hours there was a slightly darker precipitation. On June 27th
the reaction of gold-tin was more vivid and after five minutes a
light purple appeared. On June 28th the reaction set in very
rapidly; the colour at once became violet and the whole picture
changed considerably. Plate XV -- is a normal picture of tin-gold
in coloured reproduction.

Plate XV -- Gold Chloride
& Tin Chloride, 08.06.27

In order to show more or less the general character of the
pictures of tin and gold during the month of June, we show in
Plate XVI those taken on June 12th and 24th.

Plate XVI, top -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 12.06.27

Plate XVI, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 24.06.27

Plate XVII shows gold and tin at 5. 19 a. m. on June 28th after
the strong reaction described above, also gold and tin at 5. 19 a.
m. on June 29th at the time of the solar eclipse. The gold and the
tin have scarcely contacted each other and the golden-yellow has
changed into a blackish hue. At the same moment there is a strong
precipitation. The solution becomes thick and appears as though
coagulated.

According to the picture, the gold is not working. The fluid
ascends to a comparatively high level. (Taking the experiments as
a whole, the height attained by the fluids on the day of the
eclipse was greater than usual, a fact which is probably explained
by the stronger influence of the Moon.) The strip of filter paper,
however, remains perfectly white. At the bottom there appears a
dark violet line, practically horizontal.

The pictures of tin and gold have, as a rule, something
extraordinarily pure and delicate about them. To find this sudden
abnegation of gold was, therefore, an event of great significance,
for it can only be described as an abnegation of the gold. Instead
of a beautiful picture with tones of yellow and violet produced by
the gold in which are inscribed the workings of the tin-forces,
there is merely an upward suction of empty water, as it were. The
gold has been dragged down to the bottom and appears as a thick,
black precipitation showing a thick black line. What is the
explanation? We can only understand it if we avert our gaze from
the glass containing the solutions of gold and tin and look out
into the Cosmos, where we see that the Sun cannot send its rays to
the Earth and it is dark even by day. The whole world experiences
this cosmic event. Human beings were under mighty influences. Even
the unsensitive felt themselves strangely affected. At this moment
the whole of Nature changed. Shadows assumed lunar forms. A livid
light fell upon everything. All living beings were in some way
affected by the eclipse of the Sun. What wonder that dead
substances too changed in their inner texture?

The Sun’s strength waned at the time of the eclipse. The working
of gold on Earth was also weakened — weakened’ to such a degree
that tin effaced it.

This experiment with gold and tin was also repeated, hour after
hour, and we have reproduced a number of pictures. Unfortunately
we cannot give the whole series for the number is too great.
Already by noon, a few forms had appeared (Plate XVIII).

Plate XVIII, top -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 29.06.27, 12.00h

Plate XVIII, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 29.06.27, 14.30

These forms gradually increased in number as the picture taken at
2.30 p.m. shows. And so it goes on slowly (Plate XIX) as shown in
the pictures taken at 4 p. m. and 5.19 p.m. The reaction was
invariably very strong. The colour is black from the front, in
perspective a magnificent dark reddish purple.

Plate XIX, top -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 29.06.27, 16.00h

Plate XIX, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 29.06.27, 17.19h

We said before that the disturbance between gold and tin was the
most persistent. It is absorbingly interesting to look at the
pictures and to follow this disturbance by stages until it ceases.
On the day following the eclipse, June 30th, the forms below begin
to break up to a certain extent; the gold emerges in a faint pink
colouring of the paper and a contour appears higher up. Already by
the afternoon of July 1st we find the appearance of rich forms, of
a light purple colour mixed with yellow and violet (Plate XX).

Plate XX, top -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 30.06.27

Plate XX, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 01.07.27

The pictures in Plate XXI were taken on July 2nd and 3rd. The
reaction of the two solutions has abated to such an extent that
after ten minutes a blue purple appears.Plate XXI, top -- Gold 29.06.27

Plate XXI, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 03.07.27

Plate XXII shows tin and gold on July 4th, by day and at twilight.
The reaction on this date was a beautiful light purple. The
picture taken by day is extraordinarily harmonious and gaily
coloured. The form appearing at the bottom is of a rich
reddish-violet colour. We have also given the picture taken at
twilight because it is a beautiful illustration of the transition
to the fully normal condition.

On July 5th no reaction set in when the solutions of gold and tin
were poured into each other. The colour merely changed to light
green and there was no subsequent appearance of purple. The
picture is normal and absolutely identical with those taken on
June 12th and 24th.

Plate XXIII, top -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 05.07.27

On July 6th the working of the gold is still stronger. In the
photograph this is to be observed in the dark tones of the upper
part of the picture, whereas down below there is a negative form
in the place where, on June 29th, the dark horizontal strip
appears and on the following days the blackish forms. It is like a
white erasion. Thus seven days after the solar eclipse, the
ordinary relationship of gold and tin exists again.

Plate XXIII, bottom -- Gold Chloride & Tin
Chloride, 06.07.27

The forces of tin overcame the gold at the time of the eclipse. It
was to be expected that a re-arrangement of the proportions of the
two sub-stances in favour of the gold would set up the balance. I
tried the experiment and found that by using six parts of gold, a
picture was obtained on July 1st, resembling one taken on July
5th.. That is to say, six parts of gold and one of tin on July
1st, work just as one part of gold and one of tin on June 12th and
July 5th. On July 6th one part of gold was a match for one part of
tin because the Sun was able to pour more force into the gold.

And so with these experiments too we have again been able to show
how cosmic forces work into the realm of the Earth. The gold on
Earth and the Sun in the heavens belong to each other. When the
physical Sun is darkened in the heavens, the spiritual Sun may
shine in our hearts with all the greater strength if we are able
to realise how the heavens live and move in the earthly world, as
the “golden vessels, upward and down-ward climbing”. If the Sun is
shining in our hearts, we need have no fear of the outer darkness.
For the path to the Spirit is in very truth a passage through
darkness to light.

PLATES

I -- Chloride of Gold December 25th 1927II -- June 27th at 5. 19 a. m. and June 28th at 5. 19 a. m.III -- June 29th at sunrise and June 29th at 5. 19
(Beginning of the solar eclipse)IV -- June 29th at 7 a. m. and June 29th at 5. 19 p. m.V -- Nitrate of Silver by dayVI -- Nitrate of Silver by day and nightVII -- Nitrate of Silver June 27th day and nightVIII -- Nitrate of Silver June 28th day and nightIX -- Nitrate of Silver June 29th the day of the eclipseX -- Nitrate of Silver June 30th day and nightXI -- Nitrate of Silver July 1st day and nightXII -- Chloride of Gold and Nitrate of Silver March 21st
1927XIII -- Chloride of Gold and Nitrate of Silver June 28th
1927 at 5.19 a. m. and June 29th 1927 at 5. 19 a. m. Beginning
of the eclipseXIV -- Chloride of Gold and Nitrate of Silver June 29th at
7a.m. and June 29th at 5.19p.m.XV -- Chloride of Gold and Tin June 8th 1927XVI -- Chloride of Gold and Tin June 12th 1927 and June
24th 1927XVII -- Chloride of Gold and Tin June 28th at 5. 19 a. m.
and June 29th at 5. 19 a. m. (Beginning of the solar eclipse)XVIII -- Chloride of Gold and Tin June 29th at noon and
June 29th at 2.30 a. m.XIX -- Chloride of Gold and Tin June 29th at 4 a. m. and
June 29th at 5. 19 a. m.XX -- Chloride of Gold and Tin June 30th and July 1stXXI -- Chloride of Gold and Tin July 2nd and July 3rdXXII -- Chloride of Gold and Tin July 4th by day and July
4th at twilightXXIII -- Chloride of Gold and Tin July 5th and July 6th